Pennsylvania hospitals disappointed by Trump insurance order

Associated Press
| 10.13.17

In this July 31, 2017, photo, President Donald Trump pauses during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Trump's threat to stop billions of dollars in government payments to insurers and force the collapse of "Obamacare" could put the government in a tricky legal situation. Legal experts say he'd be handing insurers a solid court case, while undermining his own leverage to compel Democrats to negotiate, especially if premiums jump by 20 percent as expected after such a move. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Andy Carter, the president and CEO of The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania, said in a statement Friday the subsidies help lower-income individuals secure health insurance. He says more than half a million Pennsylvanians could see their insurance premiums spike by more than 20 percent during 2018.

He's asking Congress to take swift action to protect people from the increases and help support a competitive insurance market.

Antoinette Kraus of the Pennsylvania Healthcare Access Network says Pennsylvanians received $214 million in cost-sharing reductions last year. She says higher tax credits would make up part of the higher premiums that result from the loss of the federal reimbursement to insurers.